Jane's inferno
by PollyBunnyPeep
Summary: Daria is at the hospital after she almost dies. Now that she was so close to death, some of her family and friends' thoughts towards her are revealed and it gives them the chance so get some things out of their chests. A JanexDaria fanfic, kinda.
1. Chapter 1

This is the first fanfiction I've ever written, I know it's not actually good so I'm sorry if you don't like it :c Thanks for reading!

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"Hey, Janie, when did it happen?", asked Trent slowly with a sorrowful expression.  
Jane's brother was driving, even though she could be completely capable of driving to the hospital herself, Trent was also as concerned as she was about seeing Daria.

"It was yesterday", she answered without adding anything else.  
That day, Jane Lane did not feel like talking too much. It was acceptable since the day before her best friend, Daria, had almost died.

_How? Why?_, were the questions that were hitting the walls of Jane's mind since that morning, when Helen Morgendorffer called her and gave the the awful news, struggling not to break down while talking to her daughter's best friend about Daria's situation.

"Do you know how it happened?", asked Trent, as if he could read Jane's mind and say out loud what both of them were asking to themselves.

"I don't know, Trent. Daria's mom didn't say a lot about it"

"Um... Do you wanna, like, talk about it?"

"Do you?", Jane replied.

"I don't know. I don't even know what to say but I just thought maybe you would want to talk".

"I'm okay. Let's just get to the hospital. There's a couple of things I need to know".

They drove for almost half an hour in silence, feeling like they should have something else to say, but the words simply didn't come out of their mouths, not even out of their own thoughts. They both imagined many things they could say as conversations inside their heads, but they didn't even try to say them.

Once they got to there, they felt released. It didn't matter anymore if there was something they should have said, because they were no longer alone in the car with unclear ideas about the situation, they were now at the hospital, where everything felt too real to talk about it. The white light from the lamps welcomed them as soon as they walked through the door. The environment felt cold, empty and even frightening. But decided and confused they walked and waited until they finally found Helen.

Jake was sitting in a chair, uncontrollably crying with his hands covering his face. Quinn, next to him, with a sad, lost look in his eyes had her hand on her dad's back. Helen, standing next to her husband, stared at the floor with the same eyes Quinn did. With her arms closed and her head down, she had allowed herself to cry.

Neither Jane nor Trent, whom both felt already affected by the depressing atmosphere surrounding the hospital and the Morgendorffers, felt capable of talking to any of the family members seeking for answers or even comfort. They didn't have to, because just a seconds after they stood in front of the family Quinn and Helen saw them. Quinn looked at the two siblings and remembered how in different circumstances the first thing she would have done was to criticize their style. But she just looked at them and then her blank expression went back to the white, shiny floor. Helen looked at them as she couldn't recognize them and then like a lightning her names and what she knew about them, including the called she made to the Lane house, desperate, in which she gave Jane an idea of what had happened to Daria. She remember that time when Trent and Jane stayed at her house. They seemed to be nice kids, after all. Even Trent, whom she had to ground for coming home too late.

"Jane, Trent. It's nice to see you, how are you?", she said trying to sound more blissful, but everyone heard her voice breaking at the end of the sentence.  
"Hi, Mrs. Morgendorffer", said Jane, "I am sorry if we took too long". Jane had ignored her question, because everyone knew the answer couldn't be a positive one.

"No, Jane, I am the one who should apologize. I am sorry I didn't call you before, I am sure Daria would want me to tell you about it. You can see her if you want to, she's in that room", she pointed a door that was very close to Quinn's seat with her finger.

Again, Jane felt like she was meant to say something else, but unknowing what was it, she looked at Trent and moving a little her head in the direction of the door, told his brother, with no need of words, to follow her and the proceeded to walk to the door.

And there she was. Daria, her best friend, the sarcastic and smart girl with brown hair, brown eyes and pale lips who once had a crush on her brother. That girl she hung out on weekends with to eat pizza was now unconscious in a hospital bed.

Trent sighed and looked at the floor with a sad look in his eyes. His thoughts were around memories and "could have been" phrases. Like the time she got her bellybutton pierced because of him, and how she blushed while he held her hand. She knew how to be funny and sweet in her own way. It was a shame things didn't turn out as he secretly wanted them to be. It wasn't about he having a crush on Daria, at least not yet. But he somehow believed that if he had a chance to get to know her more, he would probably end up loving her. She wasn't exactly the kind of girl he used to date but why not? She was the coolest high schooler he knew, after all.

Jane's thoughts were similar. She was thinking about all those moments and the fights and the nights with pizza they shared. What if they had have something more close than friendship? She kept herself from thinking about it because she couldn't picture Daria thinking about her that way. But, who knew? The current events were as unexpected as the idea of the two of them being together.

"When do you think she'll wake up?", asked Trent, breaking, finally, the peaceful yet overwhelming silence.

"I hope it's soon", and, after a moment, she said: "I think we should go now. I don't feel like I can make it through this right now".

Trent hugged her and, together, they quietly left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Alone in her room, Jane was painting surrounded by the light on many candles. Why on earth would Daria Morgendorffer try to take her own life? That was now the main question she believed she could never find an answer for. She was cynical and realistic, not depressed, as far as she knew. She thought of herself as the person that knew Daria the most. If there was something wrong with Daria, the person whom was more likely to know about it was her.

_She knew that if she had anything to say I would always be there for her. Why didn't she talk to me about it?_

The canvas, covered with a painting of Daria. Her face, her hair, her eyes. Something that made Jane feel more close to Daria. The Daria she had seen was unconscious, she couldn't be sarcastic or watch marathons of Sick Sad World with her. They couldn't talk, Daria couldn't see her. It was just as if she was dead.

She heard someone knocking the door of her room.

"Um, Janie", it was Trent, ". May I come in?"

After a short silence, she answered:

"Okay, come in".

Trent looked tired. It was 3 am and neither of them had slept.

"That's a very good painting of Daria", he commented.

She didn't say anything.

"I know this is hard. Don't you think that I don't feel it, or that I don't feel like I need to know why".

"Trent, I know it's not easy for you either. I know it, I really do. It's just hard for me to talk about this. It's not something I'm used to and there was no way I was expecting this. But if you want to talk, I'm willing to listen"._ Just like I didn't listen Daria_, she thought with glow of guilt in her eyes.

"I don't know what to say. I know I'm worried about Daria. Are you sure you don't know why? I mean you're her best friend".

"Look, Trent, I don't know why, okay? Yes, I have no idea why, she had a crush on you, didn't she? She would totally be up for being close to you so why don't YOU know why?"

She realized what she had just said and Trent noticed in her eyes how she realized she had betrayed Daria by telling her secret.

"Don't worry, I won't tell her that you told me that. It's not like I hadn't notice anyway, you know? But why are you so upset because you don't know what happened?"

"You said it. I am her best friend, I am the one who was supposed to know why, right? I am the one she would've told and maybe she did but I didn't notice. What if I'm right about that? What if she, somehow, said it or gave any signals and I just didn't pay attention?"

Trent walked to the other side of the room, sat in the bed next to her sister and then hugged her while she cried.

"It's okay, Janie. This is not your fault. She's alive and everything will be okay".


	3. Chapter 3

"You know, Daria", he started, ", I don't know if you can hear me but I feel like I need to talk to you... even if I am the only one who's talking".

Daria didn't move. Not a single thing on her face, her body or her pulse did. She was just as gone as she was before he said a single word.

They had given her a gastric lavage and she had been unconscious for a week, locked inside a dream of medication.

"I always thought you were really cool. I still think it. And I don't know if you know this but um I kinda, you know, I know you had a crush on me. It is a little stupid that I sort of hope you still do because you're a pretty awesome girl. I don't really understand why you like me. Let's be honest: I seem to be a loser sometimes", he looked at Daria, waiting for a sarcastic, clever answer or warm words of appreciation. But she didn't say a word.

"Okay, I'm a loser most of the time. And you're this really smart, cool, pretty girl who had a crush on me. It's a shame it didn't work out, right? I really thought it could work. I mean we can't really tell, Daria, can we? We didn't really try it. You just know we have different ideas about commitment. But it could work out or... I don't know. I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm just confused, you know? I never thought something like this could happen to you. Were you expecting this?".

Once again he looked at her closed eyelids, waiting for an answer, waiting for her to know what to say. Waiting for her eyelids to open so he could see her brown eyes.

After moment of silence in which Trent was thinking about what he had said and looking at Daria's face, he finally said:

"Maybe you were right after all. Maybe we were right. I am not saying that I don't care about you or that I don't love you. I do. I really appreciate you and everything but maybe we're not meant to be. I don't know. We have different ideas and different plans, I guess. But you're still cool. Don't forget that".

It was Jane's turns to say some things.

The door was closed, she could freely talk to her unconscious friend.

"So here we are", Jane started.

She looked at the floor confused and gloomy.

"Okay, that was a terrible way to start. I just don't know what to say. I bet Trent said that, didn't he? I guess we're not much like you and Quinn, you can actually notice that Trent and I are related".

Instead of the storm and then the calm, Jane was first calm and then she broke and started to cry next to Daria's bed.

"Why would you even do that?", she mourned, "Didn't you think about us? About your family, about your friends... about me? I love you", she yelled with dark tears colored with makeup running down her her cheeks.

"I love you, Daria. I really, really do. I don't want to lose you. I need you to wake the hell up and come here. I know you can hear me. Please... just... say something, dammit".

"Jane?", a dazed Daria said, "is that you?"

She rubbed her eyes and sat on the bed.

"Daria!", she gasped, "you... you... are awake".

She didn't control herself. She wrapped her arms around Daria's neck and pressed her lips against her friend's.

"I'm sorry", she apologized after she saw Daria's bewildered expression.

"No, don't apologize. It's okay, Jane. I'm sorry if I didn't react the way you expected me to react, it's just that it was all sudden and it hit me and then your lips and... wow I'm sorry. I'm sorry I don't know what to say".

"You don't have to say anything. I just really need to ask you something".

"Let me guess: _why?_".

Jane nodded. She didn't feel alone anymore because Daria was, again, right there, with her chronic half-hearted expression.

"Why did you try to commit suicide? You're just realistic, you never seem to be miserable or sad because of it. You could have told me if you needed to talk, you know? I was always there. Why didn't you tell me?"

"This was not, as you may think, something planned or that took months or even years to explode like the bomb it was. No, it was nothing like that, Jane. It just happened. I'm not miserable, I've said this before. I'm not sad either. You know me well, I am just very realistic. I'm just, as you already know, too smart and sensitive to live in a world like ours".

"But why now? If you always felt like not being here because everything was exasperatingly boring why did it take so long to happen, then?".

"I don't know. As I told you, I did not expect that to happen. I just sort of saw the pills and we had some wine and the opportunity came by itself. We don't need to pretend this is as important or a tragedy. Because that's the worst part of this failure. Now I will be the focus of the attention I don't want and everyone will suddenly act nice just like that time I had that rash and suddenly Jodie, Mack, Brittany and Kevin gave a damn about me. I don't want that. I appreciate you because you give a damn about me, and you don't really need a reason for it. You're part of the small group of people who actually seem to care about me and that is all the attention I need".

Jane smiled and got her face close to Daria's.

"Can I...?"

But before she could complete her sentence Daria had already grabbed Jane's shirt and pulled it to get her lips press Jane's.

"I'm okay. I really am. Don't worry about me. Now get me out of here as soon as you can, we haven't had pizza in a while", she said as she smirked.


	4. Chapter 4

Not only Daria, but also her parents, were a little surprised with Quinn's reaction. Even though Mr. and Mrs. Morgendorffer knew her younger daughter obviously had feelings for her older sister despite of anything she had said before, they didn't know how much Quinn really cared about her sister.

"Daria", she told her sister after she woke up, ", I... I am sorry about all those times I was mean to you". At that point, Quinn was already crying, feeling somehow guilt, like Jane did, which, in Jane's case, evaporated a soon as Daria kissed her.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you with anything I said. I didn't mean to. And if you want to I will stop saying to everyone in school that you're not my sister. I want to tell you that I love you because you're my sister no matter how much we fight and how much you embarrass me, I still love you", she then hugged Daria in front of her stunned parents and Daria herself, whom had her eyes wide open and was even more surprised than when Jane pressed her lips against hers right after she woke up.

Still bewildered, Daria slowly put her arms around Quinn.

The moment with her parents had been similar. Her mother told her how much she cared about her and how she regretted being such a workaholic to the point that she did not notice that her daughter needed her.

Everyone seemed to feel like they were guilty for Daria's suicide attempt, even though neither of them were the cause of it.

Daria convinced her mother that she was fine and that the suicide attempt was not her fault, nor Quinn's, her dad's or any of her friends. Her mother, however, told Daria that she was going to make her go to therapy and she would work on her mother and daughter relationship.

_She will get over it,_ Daria thought to herself while her mother hugged her, _it's just a matter of time until everyone stops feeling so concerned about it. I hope it doesn't take too long._

Jake basically just stayed next Daria's bed, crying and talking about how he was a failure as a father. Once again, Daria had to calm him down and after hours of talking to her dad she convinced him that it was not his fault.

_I can't believe this is happening. It's not that of a big deal anyway. And now suddenly people care about me. I've even got calls from Kevin and Brittany. This is completely out of control. And now with Jane and everything... wait a minute, I haven't seen Trent yet", _she thought, lying on her hospital bed.

"Mom, I really want to go home if you don't mind so, can you get me out of here?".

"Sure, honey. I don't think you have to stay here much longer", Helen said to her daughter.


	5. Chapter 5

That night, in her bed, a tired Daria was in dreaming about Jane and Trent. She heard Trent talking to her when she was in the hospital but she thought it was a dream. Was it a dream?

She woke up in her room. She could see the light coming from her window. She got up, took a shower and went to her closet.

"Let's see, what should I wear today?", she asked to herself in front of a closet full of about ten jackets that looked exactly the same.

"Yeah, this one looks good", she said taking one of the green jackets.

She put on her yellow shirt and her black skirt, then her black boots and the green coat. In the bathroom that was closer to her room she saw herself in the mirror and brushed a little her hair.

"I guess I look decent enough".

Downstairs, her family was sitting in the kitchen, having breakfast.

"Maybe if I don't make any sound they won't notice I'm here. I think I can make it and get to the door".

She walked to the door slowly, hoping not to make a single sound, but then the sound of the door when she tried to open it betrayed her.

"Hey, kiddo!", said Jake blissfully.

Everyone opted to not to let the recent events change their daily lives, as part of Daria's request to agree going to therapy.

"Good morning, Daria. Where are you going? Aren't you having breakfast before going out?".

"Um hi. I was just going to Jane's, is it okay if I go?".

"But wait, you could like have breakfast with us before going out", said Quinn.

Daria sighed inside her mind.

"Sure, I guess I can have breakfast", she replied with a forced smile.

_At least they're being nice, but honestly Quinn being nice to me is too weird,_ thought Daria to herself.

She sat and Helen put a plate with eggs and bacon in front of her.

_I should just eat Pop-Tarts for breakfast, _thought Daria while looking at her breakfast.

Everyone around her was smiling, saying nice things.

"You know, Daria, if you want to you can hang out with me in school. I really don't mind", said Quinn.

_This is too weird. Must get out of here. Must finish breakfast and get out, _repeated Daria five times in her head.

"It's okay, Quinn. You don't have to do that. I'm okay hanging out with Jane. And talking about Jane, it's getting a little late so I think I should go now. I don't think I'll take too long so... I'll see you later". She then almost ran to the door and felt released when she could finally avoid her family.

_Remember: they will get over it_.


	6. Chapter 6

"Daria?", said Trent with wide open eyes, like he couldn't believe it.

"Hi Trent. I haven't see you in a while. It's nice to see you again. Is Jane home?".

"Yeah, she's in her room. But wait, do you think we could talk? Like just you and me".

_I should blush right now, shouldn't I?, _she thought.

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?", she asked while they walked to the kitchen.

"Well, I wanted to apologize because I um didn't went to see you at the hospital after that one time I saw you".

"Yeah, Jane told me you went to see me. Thanks about that. It's okay that you didn't go see me anymore. I appreciate that you did that one time".

"I'm sorry anyway. I wanted to talk to you about something I said when I went to see you".

_Wait... he did say that?_

And then she blushed.

"Uh, right, you can tell me now".

"I really need to ask you something. So I will just say it. Do you... do you like still um have a crush on me?".

Daria's eyes opened so much and so suddenly it hurt. Her mouth opened, as if she was going to say something, but she couldn't figure out what was it.

"I... how... how do you... how do you know that?".

"It wasn't Jane, if that's what you're thinking", that was the truth and a lie at the same time, ". I figured it out myself. But do you?"

She stared at the floor, unable the talk. When she finally figured out what to say, her own words disappointed her:

"I don't know".

She tried again.

"Look, Trent, you mean a lot to me. And I did... I did have a crush on you. Right now I don't really know what to think".

"Well I told you, while you were asleep, that maybe we should be just friends. After what happened with that project you had to do with Janie we saw things probably won't work out. And I don't want us to have problems after trying and failing, you know? That doesn't mean I don't care about you or anything. I do".

Daria smiled and Trent felt satisfied when he saw her smile because, as everyone knew, Daria wasn't the kind of girl who smiled a lot.

She then hugged him and they knew things were okay now between the two of them.

"Thanks, Trent. I do care about you too".


	7. Chapter 7

"Come in, Trent", said Jane.

"Hey", said Daria.

"Daria?", she asked just like Trent had done before when he opened the door.

"How is it going?"

"Wow. I'm sorry I didn't go see you when you got home, Trent and I didn't know if it was okay to bother your parents".

She started to look around the room, as if she was expecting something else. And she was.

"What?", asked Jane after she noticed it.

"I didn't notice until now how weird this is. I've been thinking, Jane".

"About what?"

"Well, us, I think. What happened in the hospital".

"Right. That thing".

"Did it mean anything to you?".

Jane remained silence.

"Does that mean it didn't?".

"Of course it meant something, Daria. Otherwise it wouldn't had happened. I was a little weird, you know? I didn't know what it meant to you, I didn't know if it meant the same to both of us".

"Well, then what does it mean to you?".

"What does it mean to YOU, Daria? You have an idea of what it means to me, you know it's important to me. But I don't know how you feel about it".

Daria sighed, planning her words carefully.

"You know it's hard for me to talk about this kind of stuff because I'm not used to it. But I will try: Jane, you mean a lot to me. And what happened really made me notice how much I-I... I love you. Okay? I do".

She slowly walked to Jane's bed and kissed her, like in the hospital.

"You know? I think, after it was hell to see you in that situation, with all the cables and that kind of stuff, everything turned out better than expected. I guess seeing you in a hospital bed and think about you being gone gave me the courage to say things I couldn't say before. But, Daria, please, promise me you won't leave me again, okay?"

"I won't. I promise it won't ever happen again. I have a reason to stay now".


	8. Chapter 8

"You now, Daria" Trent started "this is kind of weird".

"What's weird?"

"Well you and Jane and the dating stuff. I guess it's just that I'm not used to it. And I never thought it could happen. Don't you find kind of funny that first you had a crush on me and now you're dating my little sister?" he said and then started to laugh and then started to cough.

Daria smirked not only because she felt happy about that familiar sound she hadn't heard in weeks-Trent's laugh- but also because he was right.

"I know. To be honest, if I had to think about me dating a member of the Lane family back then when I met Jane, I probably would had thought about you and not Jane" she felt partially impressed about how she didn't feel the warm blood coloring her cheeks by saying that and she was glad she found herself so comfortable around Trent at that point that she could talk to him about her past crush on him.

"Yeah. Actually I think the same thing".

Again, no blood on her cheeks. She was over Trent, because of Jane, and she felt proud of herself.

"Things turned out just fine, don't you think? Jane is happy, I am happy despite of my daily doses of realistic thoughts and you..."

He laughed and then, again, coughed.

"I'm happy too, Daria. Jane is happy and you are happy too. It may sound cheesy but if the people I love are happy, I am happy too".

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" asked Jane.

"Nothing. Do you want to sit down with us? There's a marathon of Sick Sad World tonight" said Daria.

"Another one? The last one was last weekend. Oh well I guess I can't complain".

She sat next to Daria and held her hand.

"_Could your loved ones be replaced by aliens? Testimonies of abduction and drama next, on Sick Sad World_".


End file.
